One of the requirements for hanging curtains, drapery, or the like is the provision of suitable hardware for supporting the curtain at its top and enabling it to be slid along a rod. Drapery hooks made of metal wire and designed for pinning into the cloth are widely used for heavy fabrics, but they are not suitable for use on lightweight or sheer fabrics.
One type of curtain for which a different kind of support is needed is a vertically pleated lightweight curtain manufactured with built-in vertical "hinges" spaced some four inches apart, the curtain folding or unfolding as it moves along a horizontal rod. This type of curtain uses a somewhat open mesh fabric of material such as polyester prepared by knitting, with openings through the fabric being provided in the knitting process. Supporting hardware such as grommets for this type of curtain would damage the curtain if not removed during laundering; thus, they should be readily engageable and removable by hand to allow repeated laundering.
Various annular grommets having two halves that are secured together by engageable tines are shown by prior patents, exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,334,163; 4,372,013; and 4,656,689. The grommets disclosed in these patents are intended for heavy duty usage and would not be removable by hand. In addition, all of the tines of these grommets serve to secure the halves together, and no separate tine is provided for alignment purposes. Without such additional tine, proper alignment of the grommet halves at the desired location on the fabric while snapping the halves together is difficult to attain.